Language:
German
Year of publication:
2018
Titel der Quelle:
Jahrbuch des Simon-Dubnow-Instituts
Angaben zur Quelle:
17 (2018) 365-393
Keywords:
Wormann, Curt David,
;
Jewish librarians Biography
;
Librarians Biography
;
Library science History 20th century
Abstract:
This article deals with the personal archives of the librarian Curt Wormann (1900–1991), who began his career at the municipal library in Berlin-Kreuzberg in the 1920s, emigrated to Palestine in 1934, and became the director of the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem in 1948. At first glance, his biography seems to fit into a given narrative of the history of the influence of German librarianship on the development of libraries in Palestine/ Israel. However, his extensive collection of correspondence and other sources allow us to go beyond this German-Jewish perspective and to locate Curt Wormann’s work at the National Library within a global history of librarianship after World War II. From his first study trip to the United States, which was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation in 1951/52, to his role as a leading expert for librarianship within UNESCO’s educational politics in the 1960s, this article explores how he became an agent of “cultural internationalism” (Akira Iriye) and thus contributed to the process of professionalization and internationalization of librarianship in Israel’s early years.
Note:
With an English abstract.
DOI:
10.13109/9783666370809.365
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
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